


The Tygrid

by Nomanono



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Artificial Insemination, Bestiality, But The Cats Are People, Cat Breeding, Cat/Human Hybrids, Cattery, Just Add Kittens, Kinda, M/M, Sort of? - Freeform, Victor Breeds Them, You've been warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-22 20:58:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13175082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nomanono/pseuds/Nomanono
Summary: Victor owns a humble but thriving cattery for human/feline hybrids. He acquires a dazzling specimen - Exeter's "Ice Tiger"  - to start his newest bloodline.





	The Tygrid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Phayte](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phayte/gifts).



> Second in the Christmas Cats set! This one to Phayte for the Otayuri Writer's Collective Gift Exchange. Weird omegaverse shit, transitive bestiality, rare pairs, and some controlling Victurio???? I HOPE YOU LIKE!
> 
> ..... this will probably make everyone else uncomfortable. 
> 
> Special thanks to verity, Sintina, and EarthSorceress for editing!

Victor bought the tygrid secondhand from a nursery in Saratov. The keeper had acquired him years ago from a cattery whose line traced back to 1820’s Exeter - the first white tiger to ever successfully hybridize. The tygrid had skin pale as Victor’s own with stark white ears and tail. Victor would have sworn him an albino if not for the green of his eyes. His back had a light coat, soft as silk, but the greatest wonder was his pale stripes: invisible except in the lowest light, like a ghost.

“I call him my ice tiger,” the breeder said as Victor inspected him. “I would keep him if I could, but I needed a tom, not a queen.”

Victor signed the paperwork and replaced the collar on the tygrid’s neck with his own. He was 15 and ready to breed. 

Victor preferred his stock to have human names. He called the tygrid Yuri.

— 

Yuri shifted in the airplane seat on the flight back to St. Petersburg. His mouth was partially open, small fangs barely visible behind his pale lips. In the dim overhead light, the tiger stripes across his forehead appeared and disappeared depending on which way he faced. His green eyes were wide, and he yelped as the plane accelerated for take-off.

Victor set his hand over Yuri’s smaller, handcuffed one. The tygrid wasn’t even a meter and half tall, dwarfed by the first class seat. 

“It’s alright,” Victor said. “Look, we’re about to fly.” 

He gestured out Yuri’s window, and the tygrid’s ears twitched towards the glass, watching the land zoom away beneath them. 

“Don’t want to!” He let out a pitiful mrowl. 

“Hush,” Victor said, and he tucked a thick fleece muzzle over the tygrid’s mouth to mute him.

— 

Victor had an apartment in the city and an estate in the country, a charming refurbished Victorian surrounded by acres of plains and forest, splattered with small springs and bisected by a healthy stream. Yuri had exhausted himself with his fear on the plane and slept most of the drive, the tip of his tail twitching, his head in Victor’s lap.

When they arrived at the estate, the other tygrids came to the edges of their fenced runs to see. There was a golden tabby bengal from China and a melanistic bengal from Thailand. There was a moody amur leopard, Korean, that glared from the shadows of a copse, and a cocky looking American ocelot hybrid - superficially average, but a melanistic carrier. 

“Mr. Victor!” the ocelot called as Victor got out of the car. He was practically climbing the metal rungs of the enclosure, trying to see. The driver opened the door to Yuri’s side of the car and Yuri crept out cautiously, lingering in the shadow of the vehicle.

“Come, Yuri,” Victor said, extending a hand. “Come meet your brothers.” 

Yuri gave a hiss, staying by the vehicle as Victor went to the runs. The Thai tygrid, Phichit, was heavy with a litter, belly bulging out over the simple gray-black sweats the tygrids all wore. Phichit had been Victor’s first tygrid, the start of his collection. Melanistic tigers were all but unheard of, and Victor had obtained him from a less-experienced breeder who thought him defective. The funds from Phichit’s offspring had formed the foundation for the menagerie. Victor had reservations for the next five years of Phichit’s breedings. 

He hoped Yuri would surpass even that.

“You’re looking well,” Victor praised the little Thai, touching his belly through the rungs before opening the door. Phichit’s arms enveloped Victor’s waist. Phichit was almost too big to pick up, but Victor managed to scoop the pregnant boy into his arms. He carried Phichit alongside the ocelot’s run. 

“And how is our proud papa, hmm?” Victor asked, glancing at Leo. 

“Mama’s doing well, isn’t he? Vet said so,” Leo said, still clinging to the rungs, eyes even with Victor’s. “Vet said four cubs at least. I did it. I made four.” 

As Victor moved along the fence, Leo followed, leaping sideways along the metal diamonds - looking more like a lemur than a big cat. Victor made it to the door and opened the enclosure. Leo hopped out, raising onto the tips of his digitigrade feet to stare at Phichit. 

“Leo,” Phichit laughed. 

“Be gentle,” Victor said, but Leo was only ever gentle with Phichit. The two rubbed their cheeks together, chests rumbling.

“Who is he?” Leo asked once he was satisfied with Phichit’s health and safety. Leo bounded towards the car, was almost in range of Yuri when Yuri’s hackles raised and he bared his teeth. Leo skid to a stop, tail twitching back and forth, ears forward, a picture of intrigue.

“That’s Yuri,” Victor chuckled. 

“Is he mine?” Leo asked. 

“No,” Victor said. “First, he’ll be Guang Hong’s.” 

The golden tabby tygrid looked up from where he’d been batting at pink spring flowers, watching their seeds spray into the air. 

Leo pouted. “I could put cubs in him. I could!” 

“I know,” Victor said as he approached. He set Phichit down and grabbed the chain still connected to Yuri’s cuffs.  “Come, Yuri,” Victor said, more firmly than before. “Let’s take you inside.”

— 

Inside was lavishly furnished for a human, but signs of the tygrids were everywhere: woven twine covering door frames for scratching, warm circular pillows on the floor before the fireplace, and brushes resting on tables and the arms of couches. Upstairs, where Victor took Yuri, was a hall lined in doors - one small room for each tygrid, and his own master bedroom at the end beside a large, open playroom flooded with natural light.

Victor took off Yuri’s chains once they were in the playroom with Phichit and Leo (Victor had to carry Phichit up the stairs). Phichit snuggled into Victor’s side, eyeing Yuri with curiosity, while Leo flat out circled Yuri, inspecting him.

“Why are his legs funny?” Leo asked.

“He’s more human than you and Phichit,” Victor explained. “So his legs are like mine.” 

Leo made a face. Yuri glared. 

“Does he speak?” Leo asked. “Or is he like Phichit?” 

“He knows some English,” Victor said. “I think he’s just shy.” 

“Not shy!” Yuri hissed. He backed himself against the playroom door. 

“Come here then,” Victor coaxed. Yuri shook his head. “Alright.”

Leo lost interest in Yuri, preferring to pay attention to Phichit, and Victor turned away from Yuri, too. He grabbed one of Phichit’s favorite feather toys and teased the tiny mother with it until Phichit was laughing on his side, delighted. 

“Leo!” Phichit called, and Leo curled up around him, the two snuggling in the sunshine. 

Victor pulled out his phone to snap a picture of the pair, wholeheartedly ignoring Yuri.  It was the best way he knew to get a tygrid to like you.

— 

For two days, Victor let Yuri adjust to his new home: his room, his run, and time in the playroom with Phichit and Leo. He stayed off to himself for the most part, even in the playroom, and ignored Leo when he approached the shared side of their outdoor enclosures. He showed absolutely no interest in Guang Hong on the opposite side, and Guang Hong wasn’t the type to pry. Victor was patient. 

On the third day, the vet came to check on Phichit and run Yuri through his general health and fitness exam. Yuri didn’t like being touched, and his coldness doubled when it came to new strangers. When the vet entered the playroom, Yuri ran into the far corner and climbed to atop the carpeted structure there, hissing. 

“She didn’t breed for personality, clearly,” Victor chuckled as he climbed up after Yuri, far more awkward. “Come here, little kitten.” 

“No!” Yuri hissed.

“No?” Victor smiled. “What if I give you some tuna, hmm?” Yuri’s ears flicked at the word. Victor took a plastic bag from his pocket and opened it, the smell leaking out. Yuri huffed and turned away, but kept glancing over his shoulder. “Come on, love.” Victor pet Yuri’s arm, ignoring the flinch, and held a bit of tuna to Yuri’s mouth. “Here you go, Yuri.”

Yuri nipped the tuna off Victor’s fingers, and while he was eating allowed himself to be picked up and carried in Victor’s arms back down to the carpeted floor. The other tygrids were in their private rooms, so the vet did the exam amongst the toys and mats in the playroom. She checked Yuri’s mouth and ears, his nose and his eyes. She studied the claw nails at the ends of his fingers and ran her hands over his body to evaluate his conformation. When her hands went between Yuri’s legs the tygrid gave a yowl and lashed out. The vet was prepared, catching Yuri’s hand. 

“Ah ah,” she said simply, and when Victor distracted Yuri with another mouthful of fish, she continued.

“I can see why his breeder thought he was a tom,” the vet said. “Secondary sex is always so unpredictable. But he’s absolutely a queen, and ready to breed.”

“Perfect,” Victor said, and they left Yuri in the playroom to check on Phichit.

— 

At the end of the week, Victor finally introduced Guang Hong and Yuri. The orange tabby tiger had cinnamon brown hair and strawberry gold stripes all down his back, thighs, and upper arms. He was only two years older than Yuri, but nearly identical in size, and had a cheerful if shy demeanor that Victor hoped would balance out well with Yuri’s nastier one.

“Yuri,” Victor said as he cracked the playroom door. Yuri looked up from the far corner, where he’d been annihilating a stuffed pig. Polyester stuffing hung from his mouth. Victor reached into his pocket for the plastic bag, and before he even had it open Yuri was there in front of him, waiting. “Sit pretty for me, kitten,” Victor said, and Yuri, who had seen Phichit and Leo do it enough times, knelt with his hands cupped in front of him. “Beautiful,” Victor praised, placing a pinch of fish into the waiting bowl of Yuri’s palms.

While Yuri was eating his tuna, Victor brought Guang Hong in. 

Yuri froze mid bite, looked up at the tygrid he’d only ever seen in the next run over, and promptly carried his fish to the far side of the playroom to continue eating.

Guang Hong frowned at Victor. 

“It’s OK. He’s just testy,” Victor said. He took a large piece of the cooked fish and put it into Guang Hong’s hands. “Will you share with him?” Victor gestured breaking the piece in two. Guang Hong’s mouth hung open at the size of the fish and he hugged it to his chest, beaming up at Victor. “ _Share_ ,” Victor emphasized, repeating the gesture and then pointing at Yuri. 

Guang Hong only pouted for a moment before he dutifully pattered after Yuri, who was just finishing up his treat. Guang Hong gave one last mournful glance at Victor, holding the giant piece of fish in his hand. Victor gestured again, and with a sigh Guang Hong broke the fish in two. He offered one half to Yuri. 

“Give it,” Yuri said, snatching for the fish, but Guang Hong moved it out of reach with a pout. 

“Nice,” Guang Hong insisted. “Be nice.” 

“Nice,” Yuri growled. 

“Be nice!” Guang Hong huffed. Yuri crossed his arms, turning away. Guang Hong looked back at Victor again, holding up his two pieces of fish like now they could both be his. Victor couldn’t help his grin, but he shook his head, nodded towards Yuri again. 

“Hey,” Guang Hong said, tapping Yuri’s shoulder. “Fish.” 

Yuri shrugged Guang Hong’s hand off his shoulder.

“Nice kitty get fish,” Guang Hong explained, sitting across from Yuri. “Nice kitty?” 

Yuri glared, but his eyes stayed riveted to Guang Hong’s mouth as he took a bite of his piece. 

“Fish,” Yuri said, holding out his hand. 

“Nice kitty,” Guang Hong smiled, setting Yuri’s share in his palm. Yuri grabbed it and pulled away, stalking away from Guang Hong again to eat in peace. Guang Hong pouted until Victor came over to him and scratched between his ears.

“That was very sweet of you,” Victor praised him. When Guang Hong finished his fish Victor took out another small helping. “Here. For being such a nice kitty.” 

Guang Hong blushed, eyes lingering on Yuri as he ate his treat. 

Yuri glowered.

— 

The four of them shared the playroom after that, Guang Hong and Leo always rough-housing with each other, Phichit occasionally participating but mostly staying curled up or mewling for affection, and Yuri perched by himself at the top of the cat tree. Every time Victor came with treats, he would give Guang Hong some for Yuri, until Yuri grew used to sitting pretty for the orange tabby.

One day, while they were all out in their runs, Yuri chased a rodent of some sort up a tree and stumbled coming back down. As he grabbed for purchase he yelped, cradling his hand to his chest. 

Guang Hong was at the dividing chains in an instant, peering through at Yuri. 

“Okay?” Guang Hong asked. “Here, kitty.” 

“What happened Yuri?” Leo asked from the other side, climbing the fence the way he always did.

Victor had been on the porch, relaxing with Seung-Gil in his lap, begrudgingly getting brushed. He thought he was seeing things when Yuri tentatively approached Guang Hong and held out his hand. He’d brushed the skin off one of his knuckles - was bleeding, but not badly. 

“Chu chu,” Guang Hong said, licking the wound. Yuri watched him, mewling, and Guang Hong kept repeating it: “chu chu” with a lick, “chu chu” with a lick. 

—

Victor came into the run with little bandages, and Yuri resumed his normal coldness, growling as Victor wrapped his knuckles. Yuri acted like that single wrap of a bandage had doomed him, falling limply onto his side with the hand elevated, mrowling. 

“It’s okay, kitty,” Guang Hong reassured from his side of the fence.

“Chu chu,” Yuri demanded, holding out his bandaged paw through the links. 

Guang Hong beamed, licking the edge of the bandage. 

“Guang Hong,” Victor said. “You know how to do a human chu, hm? Be sweet.” Victor pursed his lips like a kiss and Guang Hong put his own against the bandage. 

“Chu,” he whispered against the fabric, kissing.

— 

After that, Guang Hong and Yuri shared a run. Guang Hong left Yuri alone, and Yuri grew increasingly comfortable, if the radius in which he tolerated other tygrids was any indication. He would follow Guang Hong around from a distance, feigning indifference whenever Guang Hong looked at him. 

Victor posted videos of the pair, much to his followers’ delight. 

Then came Phichit’s litter. 

Victor brought Phichit into the house full time for the days leading up to his due date. The other tygrids could sense something was afoot. Even Seung Gil paced ceaselessly in his run, and Yuri stayed close to the door, eyes constantly alert and searching. 

Leo spent the time fretting, circling Phichit when they were allowed together and meowing pitifully when Victor locked him in his room.

“Please, please please Mr. Victor,” Leo whined. “Let me go. Phichit!” 

“Leo!” Phichit echoed through the wall.

“Shhh,” Victor said, putting a muffler over Leo’s mouth. “Phichit has to relax. You have to be calm. Show him how calm you can be. How many times have you seen him have his cubs? Remember how much it helps when you’re calm?” 

Leo shook his head, trying to dislodge the muffler, but couldn’t paw it off with his hands bound. The rest of the tygrids were moved out of the house, to their runs. 

“What?” Yuri asked as Victor carried him, hand stretching towards Phichit’s door when they passed it. 

“He’s having his cubs,” Victor said. “Just like you’re going to have cubs.” 

“Cubs,” Yuri repeated, staring at Victor in confusion.

“You’ll see,” Victor said, setting Yuri down in his run. Yuri frowned, but instead of darting off he lingered, not even shirking when Guang Hong came to his side and nuzzled him. 

The vet showed up to Phichit’s room just as the first cub was crowning. Victor sat on the bedding with Phichit, stroking his sweat-damp hair. Phichit had done this several times before, but it didn’t make it any easier. 

— 

“How many?” Leo asked when Victor let him out. 

“Three,” Victor said. 

“But… vet said four.”

Victor nodded. 

“…no soul?” Leo frowned. 

“I’m sorry, Leo.” 

The papa tygrid flicked his tail back and forth, letting out a whimper. “My fault?” 

“No, kitten,” Victor soothed. He grabbed a brush and teased it through Leo’s hair. “You did very well. The three are very healthy. Do you want to see them?” 

Leo nodded, grabbing Victor’s hand and letting Victor lead him to Phichit’s room. Phichit was asleep on the bedding, two little squirmy cubs in the hollow of his curved body. The vet pulled off her stethoscope and set the third one with its siblings. Two melanistic, like their mother, one a normal orange.

Leo investigated them each, picking them up as they wormed and looking them over, smelling them, licking their foreheads in greeting. 

“Hi tiny cub,” he said to each of them, then looked around the room. “Where’s four?” 

The vet shot a look to Victor, but at his nod, she pulled out a towel-covered bundle. Leo took the stillborn cub out in far more tender hands, holding it to his chest. 

“Goodbye tiny cub,” Leo whispered, nosing its forehead. 

— 

The first time the cubs came into the run, it was as close to chaos as the estate ever got. Leo led the way, and behind him the three cubs half-crawled, half-tumbled to keep up. Phichit followed last, the bump of his belly drastically reduced. 

Yuri stared at the tiny creatures, brow furrowed. 

“That’s cubs?” Yuri asked. 

“Cubs,” Guang Hong confirmed. “Cute!” 

Yuri frowned. They were tiny with ratty tails and chubby bodies, bumbling over themselves and each other. Leo took great pride in taking each one to the roots of a tree and sitting them atop the curving ledges. 

“Yuri! Guang Hong!” Leo called. “Look!” And he held the cub up to show them. 

“Cute!” Guang Hong waved. Yuri huffed and stalked away. 

— 

A few weeks later a car rolled up to the estate - always an exciting occasion for the tygrids. They all paced the edges of their runs, watching. A man and a woman appeared, and Victor brought them to Phichit’s run. 

“Time to say goodbye,” Victor said. Phichit hugged the tiny black cub, and Leo lifted it up and kissed its forehead. 

“Goodbye, tiny cub,” Leo said, holding it out to Victor. Yuri, watching from his run, frowned and dug his claws into the dirt.

Twice more it happened that week, until all of the cubs were gone, and the five tygrids were left alone in their runs, sprawling under the sun, playing in the estate. 

Yuri slept in the shade of one of the trees and didn’t move away when Guang Hong curled up beside him. 

— 

Autumn came. 

Victor popped sweaters over the tygrid’s heads when they went out into their runs and mixed squash and harvest berries into their meals. He was waiting, watching Yuri closely, and delighted the morning he went to Yuri’s room and found a stain on his bedding. 

Yuri was not delighted. He was even grouchier than normal, even when Victor offered him tuna. He rubbed his side against Victor’s legs, something he’d never done before, and then held out his arms to be picked up like Phichit and Leo sometimes did. 

“It’s hard the first time, huh?” Victor asked, holding Yuri as he nuzzled into Victor’s neck and scrubbed his cheek on Victor’s shoulder.  

He didn’t take Yuri to the run, but to a room downstairs where Yuri had never been. There was a thick, plush rug that Victor laid Yuri down on, then washed his hands and flicked a switch that made a red light appear next to a camera. 

“September second,” Victor said. “Pairing Exeter’s ‘Ice Tiger’ Yuri and Xiao’s ‘Gold Strike’ Guang Hong.” 

Yuri blinked at him in confusion, reaching his arms out again. 

“I’ll be back,” Victor promised. 

— 

“You must be delicate,” Victor said as he held Guang Hong’s hand, guiding the tygrid to the room.

“Yuri’s cute,” Guang Hong said. “Nice kitty.” 

“Yes. And you be nice too,” Victor said. He opened the door, realized that Yuri had been leaning against it on the other side, and carefully eked inside. Yuri’s mouth was open like it had been on the plane, panting softly. 

“Ohhh,” Guang Hong whimpered when he saw and smelled the other tygrid. Victor helped Guang Hong out of his pants. He’d never put Yuri’s on that morning. 

“Hi kitty,” Guang Hong said as Yuri nestled up to him. 

“Not kitty,” Yuri insisted. “Yuri.” 

“Hi Yuri.” 

“Chu,” Yuri asked, nuzzling at Guang Hong’s neck and chest the same as he’d done with Victor. 

Guang Hong laid his arms over Yuri, pet him, and at his insistence pushed his lips against Yuri’s back, and his shoulder, and his hair. “Chu chu,” Guang Hong whispered. 

Yuri’s tail smacked into Guang Hong’s face as he slipped alongside him, spine arching, and Guang Hong followed after Yuri like the pied piper. 

It was always questionable, to what extent instincts would kick in or whether their awkward hybrid genetics had overwritten some of that latent understanding — especially given Yuri’s more human composition. Victor didn’t know that they’d be successful. Guang Hong started pawing at Yuri’s hips, and Yuri squirmed with need but not the knowledge of how to address it.

He left them to it for nearly a half hour before he carefully interrupted them.

“Like this, Yuri,” Victor said, guiding him to hands and knees, widening his legs. He nodded to Guang Hong. “Go on. Gentle.” 

Guang Hong had studded before, though not at Victor’s estate. Still, he seemed to know what Yuri didn’t. He pawed at Yuri’s hips, gripping them, and his body took over and made little thrusts, even if he was too far away to penetrate. Mindful of Guang Hong’s low growl, Victor nudged Guang Hong forward until the two connected. 

Yuri let out a sharp roar, hissing over his shoulder at the sudden sensation, but Guang Hong just growled back, pulling Yuri more firmly against him. 

It was over quickly, and when they parted Yuri lifted a leg to inspect himself, staring in confusion at this new part of his body that had never felt that way before. 

A few minutes of downtime, fresh dishes of cream from Victor, and then Yuri was nuzzling again, crouching again, flicking his tail in Guang Hong’s face again. 

They didn’t need Victor’s help after that.

— 

“You put cubs in him!” Leo announced when Yuri and Guang Hong rejoined the other tygrids later that week. He was right on the fence with Yuri’s run, mouth open, sniffing the air. “Good Guang Hong!” 

Guang Hong beamed. 

Yuri looked down at his belly, put his hands over it. 

“What?” Yuri said. 

Guang Hong nuzzled Yuri’s neck, touched his stomach. “Made cubs.” 

Yuri growled, throwing Guang Hong off of him, leaving three red stripes on Guang Hong’s side. 

“No!” Yuri called up, holding his stomach protectively. “No cubs!” 

“Yuri, Yuri, easy!” Victor called, coming into the run and putting himself between Yuri and Guang Hong, who’d curled up and hugged the bleeding scrapes. 

“ _No_ , Yuri,” Victor said. He lifted Guang Hong, taking the tygrid out of the enclosure, away from Yuri. 

“No cubs,” Yuri repeated, hissing.

— 

Victor had a dozen breeders wanting to put a deposit on Yuri’s litter. The vet came after the first month, checking over Yuri, and again at the third month, when Yuri’s belly was puffy from carrying. 

“No cubs, no cubs,” Yuri repeated, tugging on Victor’s sleeve and then pointing to his belly. “No cubs.” 

“You have cubs,” Victor said, scooping Yuri up. He sat down on the couch with Yuri, brushed his hair, and watched the pale vitiligo-like stripes flash in the firelight. 

Yuri shook his head again: “No, don’t want. Don’t want cubs.” 

“Why not?” Victor asked.

Yuri’s hands opened and closed with stress. “No cubs,” he repeated. 

Victor brushed his hand over Yuri’s belly. “It’s too late. You’ve already got cubs. They’re right in here.” 

“Get out,” Yuri begged, pushing on his stomach. 

“Hey, shhh, kitten,” Victor soothed, catching Yuri’s hand and kissing it. “It’s okay. You’re going to be such a good mama. Just like Phichit. Why are you afraid?” 

Yuri hid his face in Victor’s neck: “Phichit cubs gone.”

“They went to their new families. Just like you came to be part of my family,” Victor said. 

Yuri shook his head. “No more goodbyes.” 

— 

“Chu chu,” Guang Hong said through the links. Yuri still couldn’t stand to be around him. The claw marks had long since healed, only the faintest lines lingering, like Yuri’s own stripes, but Yuri hadn’t forgiven Guang Hong for impregnating him.

Yuri growled at the other tygrid.

Yuri was heavy now, gravid, his pregnant belly extending out over his toes, and it had become a pain to walk anywhere or do much beyond lie on his side. He’d taken to just resting beneath the trees when they were allowed out, the spring weather warm enough that they could finally go outside again without being bundled in dense down jackets.

Three cubs. That’s what the vet said.

Victor came into the enclosure, kneeling by Yuri with his customary treats for each of them. 

“How do you feel, Yuri?” Victor asked. Yuri just groaned. Victor pet his blond hair, brushed his thumb over the round white ears. “It’s time to stay in your room now, kitten.”

“Cubs?” Yuri asked. 

“Soon.” 

Guang Hong had never held Yuri’s outburst against him. “Chu chu Yuri,” he said. “Luck luck.”

— 

Yuri howled like a monster. 

It wasn’t like Phichit, who had been through it so many times, was used to the cycle of pressure and relief. With Phichit, there were warning signs: Phichit’s sudden quiet, the way he’d start panting and holding his stomach. Victor always had ice and cream waiting, had time to call the vet. 

With Yuri there were no such luxuries. If there were signs, Victor missed them. Yuri was screaming, and there was blood. 

By the time the vet arrived Yuri was unconscious. 

By the time she left he was barely breathing, and there were three towel bundles by the bed. 

—

“Where cubs?” Yuri mumbled. 

“No cubs, Yuri,” Victor whispered. “Close your eyes. Rest.”

— 

The next time Victor took Yuri to his run, the tygrid walked slowly, legs still wobbly. The others greeted him enthusiastically. Even Seung Gil crept to the side of the run to watch.

“… where’s the cubs?” Leo asked. “Mr. Victor. Yuri’s cubs?” 

“No cubs,” Victor said. 

“Vet said three,” Leo murmured. 

Victor glanced at the ocelot, clinging to the metal links. 

“No cubs,” Victor repeated, and Leo’s ears tucked down against his skull. 

— 

When Victor came back to take Yuri inside, Leo was at the edge of his enclosure. He had three old gourd shells cradled in his arm, simple faces carved into their husks with his claws. 

“What’s that?” Victor asked. 

Leo took each one in his hand, kissed its top, and handed it to Victor, whispering “Goodbye, tiny cub.” 

—

The results came back from the university lab: a recessive gene that crippled the formation of heart and lungs. Both parents were carriers. On top of that, Yuri’s human-leaning hybridization was simply weaker. The recommendation was a mate without the light stripes that Guang Hong and Yuri shared, and preferably a far more tiger one. 

At night, Victor went to Yuri’s room, sitting beside the round pillow that served as his bed. He stroked Yuri’s hair while Yuri frowned, holding his abdomen. 

“The cubs…” Yuri murmured. “Where?”

“They’re gone,” Victor said. 

“… new families?” 

“No…” Victor said. He kissed Yuri’s forehead. “They were very sick. They died before they could take a breath.” 

Yuri’s eyes flit back and forth, processing. “Died…”

Victor nodded, scratching the base of Yuri’s ears.

“No more cubs,” Yuri told Victor. “No more. No Guang Hong.” 

“No more Guang Hong,” Victor promised, but that was all. 

—

It took almost three months before the vet said Yuri was back to proper health. In that time, Phichit’s heat had come and gone, and Yuri had stared as Leo was let into the enclosure. 

Phichit loved it. He loved Leo, loved the way Victor praised him and told him what an exceptional mama he was. Leo was the same, doting on Phichit not just while he was in heat but after and between. The two were a matched pair.

When Yuri went into heat, he tried to hide it, worming on the floor of his room, isolating himself in the playroom. Leo’s tail flicked and he looked back at Victor. 

“My turn to give him cubs?” The ocelot asked, out of earshot. 

“No,” Victor said. “My turn.”

— 

Victor’s room lacked the feline accoutrements in the rest of the house. The tygrids weren’t allowed in, and Yuri hesitated on the hearth even as Victor tugged his hand. 

“Come on,” Victor soothed. “It’s alright.” 

Yuri, flush with his heat, waited until Victor picked him up, closing the door and carting Yuri to the bed. Yuri didn’t like the height of it. He moved away from the edges and wound up almost in Victor’s lap. 

The silver case had come less than an hour ago, shipped from the States. Victor opened it with one hand, the other holding Yuri as the tygrid rubbed his cheeks against him. Inside were three straws of foggy fluid: glycerin, antibiotics, and the thawing semen of a white bengal tiger. 

Victor took the first straw, attached it to the syringe. He pulled on a latex glove, then brushed his other hand between Yuri’s legs. Yuri groaned at the stimulation where he needed it most. Instinct kicked in and his tail flicked to the side, haunches lifting. 

Yuri went still as the cool syringe entered him, as Victor’s other hand cupped Yuri’s neck the way Guang Hong’s jaw had. No one knew what, exactly, triggered ovulation in the pseudo-felines, so they mimicked as many natural behaviors and stimulants as possible.

“Please,” Yuri whispered. 

“Hush,” Victor soothed. He maneuvered the syringe carefully, then depressed it, pushing the contents into the mouth of Yuri’s womb. 

— 

Victor kept Yuri with him until his heat ended. When he brought him back to the other tygrids, Leo sniffed and sniffed in confusion. 

“Doesn’t smell like you, Mr. Victor,” Leo said. “Someone gave him cubs. Who gave him cubs?” 

“I helped him,” Victor said. “The papa is a tiger across the ocean.”

“Far away?”

“Very far.” 

“Where is he?” 

“At his home.” 

Leo’s brow furrowed in confusion. “How’d the cubs get in there?”

Victor smirked. Leo was always ‘How’ and ‘Why’ on repeat. “They made the tiger feel good, and they took his milk and sent it to me, and I put the milk into Yuri.” 

“Ohhhhh,” Leo said, nodding like he understood. Maybe he did, for all Victor knew. Then his eyes lit up. “Like how you take Guang Hong’s milk.” 

“How did you know about that?” Victor blinked. 

“Guang Hong said,” Leo shrugged. Then he grinned at Victor. “I know everything, right Mr. Victor?”

Victor snorted. 

“Tiger’s cubs have souls this time?” Leo asked. “No cubs made Yuri sad.” 

“I hope so,” Victor nodded. 

“How many do you think I put in Phichit this time?” 

“Four,” Victor said. 

“Four is good,” Leo nodded in pride. 

— 

It turned out to be five, and all of them healthy. Leo was beside himself. He sat next to Phichit as the cubs nursed and counted them. 

“Look, Mr. Victor,” Leo said. “One, two, three, four, five. Five cubs. We made five.” 

“Leo,” Phichit giggled. Leo grinned down at him, kissed his forehead and his cheek and rubbed his neck.

“Good mama,” Leo said. “Best mama. Look, Phichit. One, two, three, four, five. Say five.”

“Leo,” Phichit said. 

“Five.”

“Leo!” 

“Okay, okay, I say five,” Leo agreed. He circled his brood, nosing the cubs back towards Phichit. “Good homes, Mr. Victor?” 

“Yes, for all of them,” Victor said. There were three melanistic, two natural, but one of the naturals had a hybrid pattern: neither the spots of Leo’s ocelot nor the stripes of Phichit’s bengal. It was a very, very lucrative litter. 

— 

“Does he know yet?” The vet asked as she approached Yuri’s room. 

“No,” Victor said. “But he’s starting to show. He’ll figure it out soon.” 

“Should I tell him? Or pretend it’s a normal check up?” 

“Perhaps it’s best we tell him now.” 

— 

“NO!” Yuri shouted. They’d gotten the cuffs on his wrists before they’d told him, and he thrashed against them, trying to pull his way out of the restraints. “No cubs! No more! Not again!”

Victor had never seen him cry before, but at the revelation, looking down at his stomach, seeing it for the first time as something puffy with cubs, Yuri devolved into tears. “Please, please, please, no!” 

Neither expected Yuri to take the news well, but this was far worse than they’d hoped.

“YOU PROMISED,” Yuri sobbed. He curled his body up tightly, tail sealing the line between his legs. “YOU PROMISED!” 

“Shhh, shhh,” Victor said. “I said no more Guang Hong. There’s no Guang Hong. Your cubs will be healthy. It’s OK, Yuri. You’ll be a wonderful mama.” 

Yuri couldn’t even make words anymore. His half-human crying had a hint of a cat’s yowl, pained and broken. 

“Come on, Yuri, the vet has to see you,” Victor said. He avoided Yuri’s foot as it kicked back. They struggled with each other until Victor overpowered the tygrid and managed to get cuffs around his ankles. The vet helped pull Yuri’s legs apart, checking him while he sobbed.

By the end of it Yuri had stopped struggling, lying limp on the bed instead. His head listed to the side, eyes distant.

“You should talk him through it, if you can,” the vet said before she left. “The stress won’t be good on him, or the cubs.” 

— 

The forest on the estate was thick with summer’s heat. Victor led Yuri on leash. 

“Last time, you said you didn’t want to say goodbye to your cubs,” Victor said. “Is that why you don’t want them?” 

Yuri put his hand over his stomach, stepping carefully over the rocky streambed. 

“It can be hard, letting your cubs go to a new home,” Victor said. “But they’ll be loved and cared for. I would never let anyone take a cub to a bad home.” 

Yuri glanced up at Victor. “My cubs.” 

Victor sat on the edge of the stream, kicking his shoes off and slipping his toes into the cool water. 

“Do you know how many cubs Phichit has had?” Victor asked.

Yuri laid down in the stream, the water covering up to his neck. 

“Twenty three,” Victor said. “Five and five and five and five and three. Can you imagine if he kept all of his cubs? None of them would get the love they deserve.”

“How many?” Yuri asked. “In me?” 

“Only two,” Victor said. 

Yuri rolled in the stream, arching, and touched his belly. “Two cubs. Enough love.” 

“But you’ll have more cubs in the future,” Victor said.

“Why?” 

“Because you belong to me,” Victor said. “And my job is to make cubs for other people to love.” 

“Keep cubs,” Yuri said. “These cubs. Then… say goodbye other cubs.” 

“Would you do that?” Victor asked. “If I let you keep these two cubs, would you be a good mama for me? Make more cubs after that?” 

“No Guang Hong,” Yuri said. 

“No more Guang Hong. I promised. Do you remember when you were in my room? That’s when I put the cubs in you. I can put cubs in you like that.” 

“Not like Guang Hong,” Yuri said, gesturing to his back, touching his neck. 

“That’s right, not like Guang Hong.”

“But…” Yuri contorted his mouth. “Better, with him.” 

“What do you mean.” 

“Don’t like Guang Hong. Liked… him on me,” Yuri said. 

“When he covered you?” Victor asked. “… I could have someone put cubs in you that way.” 

“No, you.” 

Victor blinked. “What?” 

“You,” Yuri said. “You do it. You did this. Do it like Guang Hong.” 

Victor just stared at the tygrid. 

“Then, I make you cubs.” 

—

When the vet came next Yuri laid on his back and spread his legs, his expression one of discomfort but not denial. The vet set the stethoscope on Yuri’s abdomen, listening. 

“Cubs ok?” Yuri asked. 

“They’re doing just fine,” the vet said. 

Victor took two of Phichit’s cubs away to ship to foreign destinations, while the other three were picked up on site. Yuri held his stomach as Leo said goodbye to his offspring. Phichit looked relieved that the needy things were no longer chasing him down to nurse. 

Yuri touched his chest, wondering what it would feel like. 

When Victor came to take them inside for the evening, Yuri tugged on his hand. 

“I stay with you.”

— 

In Victor’s room, Yuri brushed his side against Victor’s, bumped his head beneath Victor’s chin, and then curled up beside his keeper. Victor didn’t know how to react to the tygrid’s affection, to the insistence that he share Victor’s bed. 

“Do this,” Yuri said, taking Victor’s hand and putting it on his stomach. “Cubs too busy. Need sleep.” 

Victor wrapped his arms around the diminutive tygrid, rubbing Yuri’s belly, soothing the pair of cubs inside as they squirmed. Hired contractors had started work on Yuri’s room, expanding it to handle the additional occupants. Victor had always bought his tygrids at sexual maturity. He’d never raised cubs before, and found himself anxious, fingertips trembling as he pet.

—

It happened again the next night. Yuri followed Victor to his room, to his bed, and wound himself into a ball against Victor’s chest. Victor held and pet him, staring at Yuri’s tongue as the tygrid nipped tuna residue off his fingertips. He wondered how he would ever mount or cover his prized ice tiger. He’d have to use the syringe first - or second? Second, so he wouldn’t dislodge the contents. He could just use his fingers to stimulate the tygrid while he was bent over him. He wouldn’t have to actually-

“Now chu,” Yuri said. Victor startled from his thoughts to find Yuri staring. Yuri unfurled, pushed on Victor’s side until Victor was on his back. Yuri’s hands propped on his abdomen, tiny claws coming out as he kneaded Victor’s stomach. 

“Chu?” Victor asked, lip bitten to contain a whimper. 

Yuri nodded. He crawled up Victor’s body, then pressed his lips against Victor’s. Victor stuttered. His lips tingled. The tygrid’s ears perked forward, gazing studiously at Victor’s reaction. “It’s called a kiss,” Victor finally managed. “For humans.” 

“Ok,” Yuri said, those green eyes piercing. “Then kiss.” 

—

Every night after that Yuri went to Victor’s room. Every night he demanded a kiss, or a stomach rub, or for Victor to brush his tail. And every night the kiss lasted a little longer, the stomach rubs drifted lower, and Victor found himself cupping his hand over Yuri’s haunch, squeezing as he brushed him.

Yuri purred for him, butted his head against Victor in affection, and Victor found himself, to his great dismay, desiring his pet. 

“Kiss again,” Yuri demanded, and Victor cupped Yuri’s cheek, slid his fingers through Yuri’s hair, and thumbed his ears as their mouths met. Yuri pressed himself as flush to Victor’s chest as he could with his stomach between them, purring into the kiss, and slid his tongue over Victor’s lip until Victor opened his mouth. 

Yuri’s tail twitched back and forth over Victor’s thighs. Victor’s other hand rested on Yuri’s back, descending little by little. Yuri strained abruptly, and Victor’s first thought was that he’d somehow hurt him.

“Cubs,” Yuri said with a gasp. “Feel it. Help!”

Victor’s eyes went wide. “I’ll call the vet.”

— 

“You’re doing so well,” Victor said, stroking Yuri’s hair. “Such a good mama.” Yuri growled, howled, strained. 

“That’s it,” the vet encouraged. “That’s it, Yuri.”

Yuri panted, skin covered in sweat. 

“Just a little more, Yuri,” the vet said. “Push.”

Another howl, a gasp, and then a tiny, sharp cry from a brand new set of lungs. Yuri gave a choking sob. 

The vet handed the cub off to Victor to clean. It was white as moonlight, no stripes whatsoever, and whiter hair than even Yuri’s. Female. Victor cradled the thing as it cried, carrying it over to Yuri’s side. 

“Look at your cub, Yuri,” Victor said. Yuri’s eyes fluttered opened, stared at the pale jerky thing.

“Cub,” Yuri whispered, and then his eyes widened and he cried out again, straining. 

The second cub followed almost immediately, slipping out in the wake of its sister. The vet snipped the cord and bundled it, brushing vigorously until it cried out. 

His white skin was beautifully laced with black stripes and topped with a dark head of hair. 

Both cubs had digitigrade legs, short, stubby toes almost like paws, and fur down their backs and outer limbs. Their bellies were bare and pale, their faces humanoid. 

Victor couldn’t have imagined a more perfect outcome for the breeding. 

“Cubs,” Yuri rasped, and Victor brought them both. 

“They’re beautiful, mama,” Victor said as he brushed the damp hair from Yuri’s face. 

Yuri tilted his head as he looked at them. They were awkward and ugly, their tails like tiny steeples, and Yuri adored them, nuzzled them, licked their tiny foreheads. Yuri’s eyes drifted back to Victor. “Our cubs.” 

Victor flushed.

— 

The vet looked over each cub in turn, gave her approval, and made sure Yuri was stable and healthy before she left. Then Victor brought the cubs to Yuri as they started to fuss and cry.

“They need to eat, Yuri,” Victor said. “Here, let me show you.” He massaged Yuri’s nipple, palpitating until it dampened, and then held the cub’s mouth near. 

Yuri was half asleep in exhaustion but still watched, bleary-eyed, as the cub fumbled and fumbled and finally latched onto his nipple. After an initial hiss of discomfort, Yuri quieted, accepted the second cub on his other nipple. Victor watched over them as the new mother drifted, then slept.

“Your room,” Yuri demanded when he woke again to the cubs’ cries. He pawed them into his arms.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay here?” Victor asked. 

“Your cubs. Your room.”

Victor didn’t get much sleep. 

— 

A very tired Victor walked out to the enclosures with Yuri, each holding a week-old cub. 

Leo ran immediately to the link fence and climbed it to get a glimpse. 

“Hey hey hey! Phichit! Guang Hong! Seung Gil!” Leo called. “Yuri cubs!”

Yuri smiled as he went into his run, setting his cub down and watching him crawl and hop in the grass.

“So pretty, Yuri,” Leo grinned. “Two good cubs!”

Victor set the sister down near Yuri and Yuri curled up on the ground, tail flicking as he watched his cubs explore the world.

“Leo!” Phichit called, trying to see through his run.

Victor let Phichit into Leo’s run, and Guang Hong looked on in curiosity.

“Good cubs,” Leo said again, curling up around Phichit.

Yuri grinned, rolling in the grass until the cubs came hungrily to his side. He let them nurse, staring at the sky, and Victor sat beside him.

“Happy?” Victor asked, petting Yuri’s hair.

Yuri’s eyes fluttered open. He wrapped his hand around the back of Victor’s neck, pulling him down for a full, open kiss. The other tygrids made a ruckus, gasping and hooting, and Victor glowed bright pink. “Happy.”

 

 

 

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Gorgeous art by [ghostlybl](https://ghostlybl.tumblr.com/post/171948331821/another-commission-for-nomanono-the-tygrid-leo)!


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